By: Sara Cely | August 9, 2023
Colombia, a country renowned for its diverse ecosystems and rich biodiversity, has been taking strides to protect its natural treasures through the implementation of conservation fees. However, as Colombia grapples with complex economic, social, and environmental challenges, it raises the question: Do these conservation fees truly make a significant impact on preserving the country's biodiversity?
Amazona ochrocephala
Colombia is estimated to be home to around 10% of the world's known species, even though it covers just 0.7% of the Earth's land area. The country hosts an impressive range of flora and fauna, including numerous endemic species found nowhere else on the planet.
Colombia's bird diversity is particularly noteworthy, with over 1,900 species recorded. This makes it the country with the highest bird species count globally. The lush rainforests, wetlands, and mountainous regions provide habitats for a vast variety of avian life.
The immense biodiversity of Colombia is both a source of national pride and a global treasure. However, this wealth of life is under threat from factors like deforestation, habitat destruction, illegal wildlife trade, and climate change. Conservation efforts, including compensatory conservation fees, play a vital role in preserving Colombia's exceptional natural heritage for future generations.
Compensatory conservation fees
At the national level, native wildlife can be hunted for various purposes: subsistence, commercial, promotion, control, sport and scientific. These uses require authorization by the environmental authority, except for subsistence hunting.
The use of this natural resource is subject to the payment of a fee, called the compensatory fee for wildlife hunting, recently regulated.
According to the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, above all, the tax must succeed in changing the conduct or behavior of the agent that exploits the resource, making them see that its abundance is not infinite and that their current use and exploitation decisions have consequences on the availability of the species in the future.
But, do Colombian conservation fees really have a meaningful impact in biodiversity?
The dataset includes requests from 2016 to 2021 (and one entry for 2022). In total, there were 1526 requests during these years, and 96% were for scientific purposes. The rest were for commercial (65) and promotion (1) purposes.
Which species are most requested for collection?
Number of requests made from 2016 to 2022.
Source: MinAmbiente Colombia
Chart: Sara Cely | Created in Illustrator
In fact, the yellow-headed parrot and the orange-chinned parakeet are among the most trafficked birds in the world. Also, 60% of the requests of the species mentioned above were for commercial purposes.
However, these were not the species collected the most at the end. These were the ground beetle, the Atlantic canary, different species from the Psocodea family, the Seba's short-tailed bat and the yellow-striped poison frog. All of them are classified with a "least concern" conservation status.
Which species were collected the most?
No. of individuals
collected
50
150
200
250
300
100
Calosoma alternans
Serinus canaria
Psocodea
Carollia perspicillata
Dendrobates truncatus
Source: MinAmbiente Colombia
Chart: Sara Cely | Created in Illustrator
The compensatory fee that needs to be paid is calculated by taking multiple factors into consideration such as the conservation status of the species, the conservation status of the habitat, the purpose, the regional factor, the nationality of the hunter (person or company), the implementation cost and the number of individuals collected.
Most of these factors are established in the decree that defines the compensatory fee.
Which species raised the most money?
Total fees paid
(COP)
2.5M
2M
1.5M
1M
500K
Pristimantis
dorsopictus
Dendrobates
truncatus
Carollia
perspicillata
Serinus
canaria
Brotogeris
jugularis
Source: MinAmbiente Colombia
Chart: Sara Cely | Created in Illustrator
For the yellow and black frog 102 individuals were collected, and since its conservation status is vulnerable the fee is larger than that of the Seba's short-tailed bat, for example, where 123 individuals were collected but the conservation status is "least concern".
For the yellow-striped poison frog 119 individuals were collected, 218 for the Atlantic canary and 82 for the orange-chinned parakeet.
How much money was raised in fees?
Per conservation status of the collected individuals.
$
≈ 200K COP
Source: MinAmbiente Colombia
Chart: Sara Cely | Created in Illustrator
Let's take a closer look at the money raised in total. For the six years 2016-2021 (and one entry in 2022) the fees raised 36.4 million Colombian pesos. That is roughly nine thousand US dollars.
If we devide by the six year period, every year 1.5 thousand USD (six million COP) were raised, which turns out to be 125 USD (500 thousand COP) per month.
Is this enough to aid in conservation efforts in a country home to around 10% of the world's known species?
Definitely not.
But to make it clearer, let's compare this to the salary of the Minister.
